The series opens Wednesday, Oct. 29 with Adolfo Soberanis, a Native American Studies instructor who will present (Re)imagining (Real)ity, a reality check on the power and peril of imagination in shaping how we see the world, and something Indigenous researchers call the “parenthetical “re-”.
The event is free and open to the public, and will be located at the Veterans Memorial Building in Arcata.
Soberanis’ lecture will explore illusions people create, such as the “natural world” versus the “unnatural world,” and the importance of imaginations. Society, he suggests, is caught in a kind of cognitive dissonance: people recognize that the world is “natural,” yet our ways of thinking seem “unnatural,” leaving many feeling disconnected or unsure. He helps audiences understand the parenthetical prefix “re-”, used by Indigenous researchers, to (re)imagine, (re)consider, (re)connect. But he warns that imagination always has consequences that will affect the next six generations of life.
In this talk, Soberanis invites listeners to learn to live “within the parentheses” and consider what new ways of being might emerge when they loosen their grip on what they’ve been conditioned to think is real.
Soberanis’ extensive teaching and creative work draw on Indigenous teachings, literature, and environmental understandings of interconnectedness. Of Nahua and Navajo descent, Soberanis is an elder within the National Compadres Network and facilitator of men’s circles (Círculos de Hombres). Soberanis intertwines oral traditions and scholarship in line with other Indigenous scholars; ways of (re)centering Indigenous knowledge systems and (re)framing common ideas to return to effective understandings of reality. An example of this (re)framing is the removal of the dams on the Klamath River, which has not been a “starting over” project but is, instead, a (re)creation of abundance.
“My Best Lecture aims to spark creative exchange, bringing together staff, students, and faculty, as well as the community, to engage with the ideas that most inspire the people teaching at Humboldt,” says CAHSS interim Associate Dean Joice Chang, who is leading the series. “The speakers we select are nominated by students, faculty, and staff, which helps to democratize our selection process and bring our outstanding academics into the spotlight.”
The lecture series will continue next semester, with the aim to expand to include speakers from across all departments in the future.
My Best Lecture: Adolfo Soberanis, Native American Studies instructor
Wednesday, Oct. 29
5:15 - 6:30 p.m.
Veterans Memorial Building (1425 J Street, Arcata)
FREE and open to the public
Light snacks and a cash bar will be available.
For questions or accommodation requests, contact Joice Chang jyc85@humboldt.edu.